Review

November, 11th 2016

Let’s start the observance of this melody from the unusual observation – the name of this performer (Cee Lo) is read on the main Cyrillic language, Ukrainian, as the ‘small village.’ And it is pretty consonant to JLo, we’d like to add. As for the melody itself, in originated not so long ago, in 2012. It was included in the album with the name of the performer – ‘Cee Lo's Magic Moment.’ But if to speak only about this incarnation of a song. There are so extremely many of them, you’ve gotta know! There is a common name for the entire group of the Christmas songs and they started to be created since 1967, where Stevie Wonder originated the queue. There are as much as 30 various performances (only officially listed by Wiki, more of them you may find on YouTube, as usual). And there are 9 more songs that bear this name but not share the lyrics. So, get ready to read the list of the most significant musicians, who did a song with that name: Stevie Wonder, Hanson, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Jessica Simpson, Michael McDonald, Cee Lo Green, and Bob Stewart. Remember – these are only the most outstanding ones.
The US’s singer Cee Lo released it somehow on the UK’s territory first and then only in the US. This R’n’B song peaked only at 22nd position, despite the overall festive mood and it wasn’t sold even in 200 thousand copies – which is pretty disgraceful for a person who did this album as his fourth. Maybe it was not his audience – as previously all three albums were labeled as ‘PA’ (Parental Advisory is recommended). Thus, it may mean that he simply did not find his audience or it was advertised amongst the wrong layers – who knows. What is interesting – making the album, the singer collaborated with much bigger stars – Christina Aguilera, The Muppets, and Rod Stewart. What went wrong? It is hard to say, as the album and this single included in it, were generally positively accepted by critics. Thus, there are following ratings of the most significant critics: 63% of appr. (from Metacritic), 4 out of 5 (AllMusic), 4 out of 5 (The Daily Telegraph), 59% of appr. (Pitchfork), and 4 out of 5 (Slant Magazine). There were those who gave it must lesser amount of stars. Thus, they are: The Guardian (3 out of 5), NME (2.5 out of 5), and PopMatters (1.5 out of 5). It must be said that pop-makers and listeners never really loved R’n’B singles and albums and so PopMatters as the brightest representative of pop culture from the entire listed quantity of observers may just not be taken into consideration. Boo on them!
As for the song’s essence, it is as follows: a picturing of what contributes to the spirit of Christmas – burning candles, mistletoes, ice and show, carols and choirs singing them, smiley faces, heart-touching love, kissing and wishing the merry Christmas to all around. These are all united under the words making the heart of the song – its name.
Reference: More about "What Christmas Means to Me " and
"Cee Lo's Magic Moment"